Professor Karen Henson
Department of Music, Columbia University
Thursday, March 6, 2008, 4:00 p.m.
Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, 128 Wall St.
Free and Open to the Public

As part of the Library's Exploration and Adventure series, Karen Henson will discuss twelve new Verdi letters and other operatic and musical theater sources in the Yale Collection of Historical Sound Recordings. The materials hail from the French baritone Victor Maurel (1848-1923), Verdi's first Iago and first Falstaff, and from his second wife, the musical theater librettist and screenwriter Frederique Rosine de Gresac (1866/7-1943). The letters and other sources constitute an important resource for not only 19th opera and operatic performance but also the early American musical, film studies, the history of women, and even the history of celebrity. The Verdi letters concern Maurel's creation of the role of Falstaff and include a intriguing debate about preparing for the role and singing generally.

Karen Henson is Assistant Professor in the Department of Music at Columbia University. She received her DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2000. Her research focuses on 19th century French and Italian opera.

Contact: Geoffrey Little

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